WASHINGTON –
Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Martin F. O’Callaghan, Jr., killed during World War II, was accounted for on April 24, 2018.
In February 1945, O’Callaghan was a pilot with the 96th Fighter Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group, on a mission to strafe targets near Maribor, Yugoslavia, now Slovenia. While attacking locomotives near a railway station, O’Callaghan’s P-38 Lightning aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire. He radioed his squadron-mates to say that he might attempt to bail out of the aircraft, however, according to witnesses, he attempted to land the aircraft in a field southeast of Maribor. As he was attempting to land, the aircraft inverted, crashed and burst into flames. Because Yugoslavia was an occupied territory at the time, no immediate search for his remains could be conducted.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
O’Callaghan’s name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with the other MIAs from WWII. Although interred as an "unknown”, his grave was meticulously cared for over the past 70 years by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
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